On this episode, we take a clean cut look at one largely controversial topic in Mormon history. Until 1978, no person having any black lineage could hold the priesthood, which denied them access to the highest kingdom of celestial heaven. Any black person that made it to heaven before the priesthood ban was lifted, was merely elevated to level of eternal servant (slave) of the white and delightsome men that make their own planets in the highest level of celestial heaven. What could have caused such a monumental shift in Mormon doctrine about blacks not having the priesthood? Turns out, the story is much more complicated than it first appears. Show links: Website http://nakedmormonismpodcast.com Twitter @NakedMormonism Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Naked-Mormonism/370003839816311 Patreon http://patreon.com/nakedmormonism Outro music Jason Comeau http://aloststateofmind.com/ Show Artwork http://weirdmormonshit.com/ Links: Ishmael Brown of Angry Black Rant Podcast: http://angryblackrant.com/category/podcast/ Racist Mormon Quotes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tfHzyCXHiw Race and the Priesthood official LDS essay: https://www.lds.org/topics/race-and-the-priesthood?lang=eng MormonThink article refuting LDS essay: http://www.mormonthink.com/essays-race-priesthood.htm Church Minutes about Jane Manning: https://books.google.com/books?id=Pn20CgAAQBAJ&lpg=PA166&ots=J_3eYSrJ4x&dq=minutes%20Weekly%20Council%20Meetings%20of%20the%20Quorum%20of%20Twelve%20Apostles&pg=PA52#v=onepage&q&f=false Letter from a Doubter: https://leavingthegarden.wordpress.com/2016/04/06/letter-from-a-doubter/ October 1978 General Conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR8YgVNwG4w&list=PLClOO0BdaFaOocnkPQzzUU3IvyTwOFaVR&index=6 Darius Gray on Deseret News 2014: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865605242/Black-LDS-leader-Darius-Gray-makes-contributes-to-Mormon-history.html?pg=all Darius Gray 2014 affirmation conference lecture: http://affirmation.org/darius-grays-keynote-speech-2014-affirmation-conference/ Official press release of ban lift: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=Aul-kAQHnToC&dat=19780609&printsec=frontpage&hl=en LeGrand Richards Interview w/audio: http://thoughtsonthingsandstuff.com/the-legrand-richards-interview/ Transcription of interview clip: WALTERS: On this revelation, of the priesthood to the Negro, I’ve heard all kinds of stories: I’ve heard that Christ appeared to the Apostles. I’ve heard that Joseph Smith appeared; and then I heard another story that Spencer Kimball had had a concern about this for some time and simply shared it with the apostles, and they decided that this was the right time to move in that direction. Now are any of those stories true, or are they all… RICHARDS: Well, the last one is pretty true, and I might tell you what provoked it in a way. Down in Brazil, there is so much Negro blood in the population there that it’s hard to get leaders that don’t have Negro blood in them. We just built a temple down there. It’s going to be dedicated in October. All those people with Negro blood in them have been raising the money to build that temple. And then, if we don’t change, then they can’t even use it. So Brother Kimball worried about it, and he prayed a lot about it. He asked each one of us of the Twelve if we would pray – and we did – that the Lord would give him the inspiration to know what the will of the Lord was. And then he invited each one of us in his office – individually, because you know when you are in a group, you can’t always express everything that’s in your heart. You’re part of the group, you see – so he interviewed each one of us, personally, to see how we felt about it, and he asked us to pray about it. And then he asked each one of us to hand in all the references we had, for, or against that proposal. See, he was thinking favorably toward giving the colored people the priesthood. Then we had a meeting where we meet every week in the temple, and we discussed it as a group together, and then we prayed about it in our prayer circle, and then we held another prayer circle after the close of that meeting, and he (President Kimball) lead in the prayer; praying that the Lord would give us the inspiration that we needed to do the thing that would be pleasing to Him and for the blessing of His children. And then the next Thursday – we meet every Thursday – the Presidency came with this little document written out to make the announcement – to see how we’d feel about it – and present it in written form. Well, some of the members of the Twelve suggested a few changes in the announcement, and then in our meeting there we all voted in favor of it – the Twelve and the Presidency. One member of the Twelve, Mark Petersen, was down in South America, but Brother Benson, our President, had arranged to know where he could be reached by phone, and right while we were in that meeting in the temple, Brother Kimball talked with Brother Petersen, and read him this article, and he (Petersen) approved of it.